As soon as the regular season kicked off, though, Langford was once again haunted by his inability to consistently break or evade tackles.

"Well, I think we blocked up some runs pretty well," Fox said after the Week 1 loss at Houston. "That's not an easy defense to run against, but I think there were some yards there, yards after the carry, I mean, yards after contact."

A bruising north/south runner out of Indiana, Howard racked up 92 yards from scrimmage on 13 touches as the every-down back following Langford's exit Sunday night.

With Langford out of the picture and Ka'Deem Carey nursing a hamstring injury, Howard is in line for a heavy workload versus an injury-depleted Detroit Lions defense in Week 4.

If the fifth-round rookie impresses over the next month, he could remain in the lead-back role all season long, pushing Langford into a pass-catching niche that better suits his skill set as a player who moonlighted at wide receiver during his Michigan State days.